Denis Kitchen, First Amendment Defender of Comic Books!

In 1986, Friendly Frank's Comics Store in suburban Chicago was raided by police, and store manager Michael Correa was arrested for the sales and possession of obscene materials. The "obscene materials" in question were counterculture comics, a publishing genre that had strong cult popularity since the mid-sixties.

One of the comic books targeted by the suburban Chicago police raid was "Omaha, the Cat Dancer", published by Kitchen Sink Press.

Denis Kitchen

After Correa was convicted of the obscenity charges, Kitchen Sink Press owner Denis Kitchen felt obligated to come to Correa's defense. He organized a fundraiser that brought in $20,000, and then hired a First Amendment attorney to represent Correa and Friendly Frank's Comics Store.

After an appeals court acquitted Correa, Kitchen used the surplus money from the fundraiser to start The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Kitchen Sink Press

In the late sixties, counterculture comic book artists like Robert Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, and S. Clay Wilson believed that it was their right to violate the Comics Code Authority, a comic book industry-enforced censorship entity that reflected the more puritanical values of the 1950s.

In 1969, Milwaukee-based cartoonist Denis Kitchen published his first counterculture comics, "Mom's Homemade Comics." Its first-run of 5,000 copies sold out almost immediately, and Kitchen published more. In 1970, he formed his own alternative comics publishing company, Kitchen Sink Press. His first contributors included "Zippy the Pinhead" creator Bill Griffith; and the most outrageous and violently graphic cartoonist of them all, S. Clay Wilson.

By the early seventies, Kitchen began publishing the work of his idols, graphic novel pioneer Will Eisner and MAD Magazine's greatest editor, Harvey Kurtzman.

Kitchen and Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics asked Kitchen to help them publish their series "Comix Book", Marvel's only foray into counterculture comics. He negotiated hard on behalf of his artists, including Kim Deitch, Justin Green, and Art Spiegelman, later of "Maus" fame. Coming up against Stan Lee, Kitchen proved to be a tough negotiator. He succeeded in obtaining artist ownership of their original art, trademark rights, and character copyrights. This was unheard of at Marvel, whose staff artists were for-hire.

Kitchen Sink in middle age

In the eighties, Kitchen Sink Press launched even more artist careers, including Drew Friedman and Daniel Clowes. Kitchen also helped renew public interest in many of the forgotten comic masters like Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, and the late Al Capp of "Li'l Abner" fame. In the nineties, he was one of the first publishers to introduce graphic novel innovators like Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and Eddie Campbell.

The end of Kitchen Sink

Although Kitchen Sink Press folded in 1999, Denis Kitchen is still going strong as an artist agent, representing both new talent and the estates of Will Eisner and Harvey Kurtzman.

SOURCES:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_Book_Legal_Defense_Fund

"Comics Relief", James A. Morrisard, Baltimore City Paper, URL: (http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=5032)

"The Unsinkable Denis Kitchen", Michael Dooley, AIGA Journal of Design, URL: (http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/the-unsinkable-denis-kitchen)

http://kitchenandlind.com/denisjohn.html